Don’t you be afraid, for I am with you. Don’t be dismayed, for I am your God. I will strengthen you. Yes, I will help you. Yes, I will uphold you with the right hand of my righteousness.
⛓ Read Isaiah 41 forward — the whole chapter and its afterlife →Where this passage surfaces again, sorted by the strength of the link. Each kind of reuse — formal quotation, deliberate allusion, faint echo, figural pattern — carries its own mark. Follow any reference to read it in place.
Allusion3
A deliberate verbal borrowing without a citation formula.
The night-vision reassurance 'Do not be afraid... for I am with you' is the classic divine-encouragement formula, of which Isaiah 41:10 ('Fear not, for I am with you... I will strengthen you') is the paradigm. Paul stands in the line of those summoned and steadied by God's presence.
High confidence'Don't be afraid' (me phobeisthe) on the angel's lips is the recurrent assurance-of-presence formula God speaks to his people: 'Fear not, for I am with you.' It frames the empty tomb as a moment of divine reassurance, anticipating 28:20.
Medium confidence'Fear not, for I am with you... I will strengthen you' is the Isaianic presence-and-courage oracle. The risen Jesus' 'I am with you always' assumes this divine first-person assurance to the servant people.
Medium confidenceEcho4
A fainter, low-volume reuse, carried by recurrence or thematic coherence.
'Don't be afraid, for I am with you... I will strengthen you' parallels Paul's denial that God gives a spirit of fear and his assertion of a spirit of power. Isaiah's salvation-oracle formula of fearlessness-through-divine-strength stands behind the verse.
Medium confidence'Fear not, for I am with you' — the prototypical divine encouragement formula reflected in the Lord's 'Cheer up, Paul.' Faint, generic echo; low Volume.
Low confidence'Fear not, for I am with you' undergirds 'cheer up!' and 'the Father is with me' as divine-presence reassurance against a hostile world. The do-not-fear / I-am-with-you formula coheres with Jesus' encouragement, though it is a widespread OT idiom.
Low confidence'I will strengthen you, I will help you' adds to the prophetic strengthening tradition Paul draws on for 'who strengthens me.' Volume is low for any single verse, but recurrence of the divine-strengthening promise in Isaiah reinforces availability and coherence.
Low confidence